6/TRAVEL PROCUREMENT www.businesstravelnews.com/procurementAlaska Air Group passenger revenue increased 9 percent year over yearto $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter. That includes Virgin America revenuefor the second half of December, as Alaska acquired Virgin America on Dec.14. Traffic rose 13.1 percent year over year, and capacity increased 10. 3 percent,improving load factor 2 percentage points to 84.5 percent. Yield declined 3. 3percent year over year during the quarter. For the full year 2016, Alaska report-ed a net income of $814 million, down 4 percent from 2015.

WestJet’s revenue from managed corporate business travel increased

15 percent year over year in the fourth quarter. Part of the uptick camefrom “a couple of nice months” from the energy sector, WestJet EVP ofcommercial Bob Cummings said. Premium economy seating revenue rose

Both demand and pricing picked up for United Airlines last year,and that continued in the first weeks of this year. Passenger revenueincreased 0.4 percent year over year to $7.8 billion during the fourth quarter,and yield declined 0.3 percent. Traffic rose 1.6 percent, and capacity increased

2 percent. Load factor declined 0.3 percentage points to 82.4 percent. United
reported a net income of $397 million for the quarter, down from $823 million
in the fourth quarter of 2015. Net income for the full-year 2016 was $2.3 billion,
down from $7.3 billion in 2015. The decline stemmed largely from a tax-related
benefit in 2015.

American Airlines plans to beef
up its corporate sales force this
year to gain market share, executives said during the carrier’s
fourth-quarter earnings call.

Operating revenue increased 1.7 percent year over year during the fourth
quarter to $9.8 billion. Traffic declined
1.3 percent as American increased capacity 0.4 percent, causing load factor
to drop 1.3 percentage points to 81.4
percent. Yield increased 1.8 percent,
and unit revenue was up. American
reported a net income of $2.7 billion
for the full year 2016, compared with
a net income of $7.6 billion in 2015.

The 2015 profit included a $3 billionincome tax benefit.JetBlue’s passenger revenueincreased 2. 7 percent year overyear to $1.5 billion in the fourthquarter. Traffic increased 6 percentas JetBlue increased capacity 4. 5percent, pushing load factor up 1.1percentage points to 84.7 percent.The average fare declined 4 percentto $154.94. JetBlue reported a netincome of $759 million for the fullyear 2016, up 12 percent comparedwith 2015.Southwest Airlines reported strongbusiness travel demand in thefourth quarter as it topped quar-terly records in both passengerrevenue and load factor. Southwest’spassenger revenue totaled $4.6 billionin the quarter, and total operatingrevenue rose 5 percent year overyear. The carrier boosted capacity5 percent year over year, and trafficincreased 5. 5 percent, pushing loadfactor up 0.3 percentage points to 84.4percent. The average fare declined 3. 7percent year over year to $144.43, andunit revenue also declined.” Southwestreported a net income of $2.2 billionfor the full year 2016, up 2. 9 percentcompared with 2015.Delta expects to increase fares this year amid growing corpo-rate demand and controlled capacity, executives said duringthe carrier’s fourth-quarter earnings call. Delta increased capac-ity 0.9 percent during the quarter as traffic increased 0.8 percent.Load factor declined 0.1 percentage points to 85.1 percent. Delta’sfourth-quarter net income declined 37 percent year over year to$622 million. On Dec. 1, the airline and its pilots ratified an agreementretroactive to the beginning of the year, and the $475 million ex-pense hit the books during the fourth quarter. Full-year net incomedropped 3 percent year over year to $4.4 billion.NEWS